Method and system for synchronizing attributes among electronic devices

ABSTRACT

A method and system for synchronizing attributes among electronic devices is provided. The method includes scanning a low energy bluetooth network for one or more attributes of a second electronic device by a first electronic device, establishing a low energy bluetooth connection between the first electronic device and the second electronic device, synchronizing the one or more attributes of the second electronic device and one or more attributes of the first electronic device.

PRIORITY

This application claims the benefit under 35 U.S.C. §119(a) of an Indian provisional patent application filed on Oct. 31, 2008 in the Indian Patent Office and assigned Serial No. 2664/CHE/2008 (PS), and an Indian Non-provisional patent application filed on Oct. 29, 2009 in the Indian Patent Office and assigned Serial No. 2664/CHE/2008 (CS), the entire disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to wireless communication. More particularly, the present invention relates to a method and system for synchronizing attributes among electronic devices using low power bluetooth technology.

2. Background of the Invention

In an existing environment, time of different electronic devices have to be constantly synchronized with a correct time due to different conditions. Examples of the different conditions include, but are not limited to, a user travelling across different time zones, temperature conditions, and a weak battery. In an example, a user manually sets the time of a watch to the time displayed on a wall clock at a station. Such synchronization to be manually done may cause inconvenience and result in an undesired delay.

In light of the foregoing discussion, there is a need for a method and system for synchronizing one or more attributes among electronic devices using low power bluetooth technology.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

An aspect of the present invention is to address at least the above-mentioned problems and/or disadvantages and to provide at least the advantages described below. Accordingly, an aspect of the present invention is to provide a method and system for synchronizing attributes among electronic devices.

In accordance with an aspect of the present invention, a method for enabling synchronization of attributes among electronic devices over a low energy bluetooth network is provided. The method includes scanning, by a first electronic device, a low energy bluetooth network for one or more attributes of a second electronic device, establishing a low energy bluetooth connection between the first electronic device and the second electronic device, and synchronizing the one or more attributes of the second electronic device and one or more attributes of the first electronic device.

In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, a system for enabling synchronization of attributes among electronic devices over a low energy bluetooth network is provided. The system includes a first electronic device and a second electronic device. The first electronic device is in electronic communication with the second electronic device over a low energy bluetooth network. The first electronic device includes a processor for scanning the low energy bluetooth network for one or more attributes of a second electronic device by a first electronic device, establishing a low energy bluetooth connection between the first electronic device and the second electronic device, and synchronizing the one or more attributes of the second electronic device and one or more attributes of the first electronic device.

Other aspects, advantages, and salient features of the invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art from the following detailed description, which, taken in conjunction with the annexed drawings, discloses exemplary embodiments of the invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The above and other aspects, features, and advantages of certain exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be more apparent from the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an environment according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of an electronic device according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a flow diagram illustrating time and date synchronization between a first electronic device and a second electronic device according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention; and

FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating a method for enabling synchronization of attributes among electronic devices over a low energy bluetooth network according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

Throughout the drawings, it should be noted that like reference numbers are used to depict the same or similar elements, features, and structures.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EXEMPLARY EMBODIMENTS

The following description with reference to the accompanying drawings is provided to assist in a comprehensive understanding of exemplary embodiments of the invention as defined by the claims and their equivalents. It includes various specific details to assist in that understanding but these are to be regarded as merely exemplary. Accordingly, those of ordinarily skill in the art will recognize that various changes and modifications of the embodiments described herein can be made without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention. In addition, descriptions of well-known functions and constructions are omitted for clarity and conciseness.

The terms and words used in the following description and claims are not limited to the bibliographical meanings, but, are merely used by the inventor to enable a clear and consistent understanding of the invention. Accordingly, it should be apparent to those skilled in the art that the following description of exemplary embodiments of the present invention are provided for illustration purpose only and not for the purpose of limiting the invention as defined by the appended claims and their equivalents.

It is to be understood that the singular forms “a,” “an,” and “the” include plural referents unless the context clearly dictates otherwise. Thus, for example, reference to “a component surface” includes reference to one or more of such surfaces.

Exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure described herein provide a method and system for synchronizing attributes among electronic devices.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an environment according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 1, the environment 100 includes a plurality of electronic devices, for example an electronic device 105 a and an electronic device 105 b, connected through a network 110. In certain embodiments, the network 110 includes a low energy bluetooth network. Examples of the electronic devices include, but are not limited to, a computer, a laptop, a mobile device, a hand held device, a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA), a bluetooth enabled watch, other bluetooth enabled devices, and the like.

The electronic devices include a first electronic device for initiating synchronization of one or more attributes with a second electronic device. Examples of the one or more attributes include, but are not limited to, time, day, date, month, year and calendar. The attributes for time can be further extended to seconds, divisions of a second. The synchronization is performed using attribute commands. The attribute commands include one of a read command and a write command. For example, the electronic device 105 a may act as the first electronic device and the electronic device 105 b may act as the second electronic device. In an exemplary implementation, the electronic device 105 a may act as the second electronic device and the electronic device 105 b may act as the first electronic device.

The electronic device 105 a includes a plurality of elements for enabling synchronization of the one or more attributes with the electronic device 105 b. The electronic device 105 a including the elements is explained in detail in FIG. 2.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of an electronic device according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 2, the electronic device 105 a includes a bus 205 for communicating information, and a processor 210 coupled to the bus 205 for processing the information. Examples of the information include attributes and attribute values. The electronic device 105 a also includes a memory 215, for example a Random Access Memory (RAM) coupled to the bus 205 for storing information required by the processor 210. The memory 215 can be used for storing temporary information required by the processor 210. The electronic device 105 a can further include a Read Only Memory (ROM) 220 coupled to the bus 205 for storing static information required by the processor 210. A storage unit 225, for example a magnetic disk, a hard disk or an optical disk, can be provided and coupled to the bus 205 for storing the information.

The electronic device 105 a can be coupled via the bus 205 to a display 230, for example a Cathode Ray Tube (CRT) or a Liquid Crystal Display (LCD), for displaying information. An input device 235, including various keys, is coupled to the bus 205 for communicating information to the processor 210. In an exemplary implementation, cursor control 240, for example a mouse, a trackball, a joystick, or cursor direction keys for communicating information to the processor 210 and for controlling cursor movement on the display 230 can also be included.

In an exemplary implementation, the steps of the present disclosure are performed by the electronic device 105 a using the processor 210. The information can be saved into the memory 215 from a machine-readable medium, for example the storage unit 225. In an alternative implementation, hard-wired circuitry may be used in place of or in combination with software instructions to implement various exemplary embodiments.

The term machine-readable medium can be defined as a medium providing data to a machine to enable the machine to perform a specific function. The machine-readable medium may be a storage media. The storage media may include a non-volatile media and a volatile media. The storage unit 225 can be a non-volatile media. The memory 215 can be a volatile media. All such media must be tangible to enable the instructions carried by the media to be detected by a physical mechanism that reads the instructions into the machine

Examples of the machine readable medium includes, but are not limited to, a floppy disk, a flexible disk, a hard disk, a magnetic tape, a CD-ROM, an optical disk, punch cards, a paper tape, a RAM, a PROM, an EPROM, a FLASH-EPROM, and the like.

The electronic device 105 a also includes a communication interface 245 coupled to the bus 205 for enabling data communication. Examples of the communication interface 245 include, but are not limited to, a Bluetooth port.

In an exemplary implementation, the processor 210 may include one or more processing units for performing a plurality of functions of the processor 210. The processing units are hardware circuitry performing the plurality of functions.

The plurality of functions includes scanning the bluetooth network for one or more attributes of the second electronic device. The plurality of functions also includes establishing a low energy bluetooth connection between the first electronic device and the second electronic device. Further, the plurality of functions includes synchronizing the attributes of the second electronic device and one or more attributes of the first electronic device.

FIG. 3 is a flow diagram illustrating time and date synchronization between a first electronic device and a second electronic device according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 3, a synchronization profile, for example an ultra low power bluetooth profile connection, is established between the first electronic device 105 a and the second electronic device 105 b. The first electronic device 105 a is an initiator device and the second electronic device 105 b is a target device where time and date attribute values of the first electronic device is to be synchronized.

The first electronic device 105 a transmits a read attribute command to the second electronic device 105 b for reading one or more attributes in step 305, for example an attribute time and an attribute date. The second electronic device 105 b then transmits a read attribute response, with the attributes and the attribute values in step 310. For example, if the time and the date in the second electronic device 105 b are 1:05:48 PM and 1 Oct., 2009 respectively, then the read attribute response includes attribute time and an attribute value 130548, and the attribute date and the attribute value 011009.

For example, the first electronic device 105 a has a time corresponding to 1:10:52 PM and date 2 Oct. 2009, and the corresponding attributes value are 011052 and 021009 respectively. A write attribute command is transmitted to the second electronic device 105 b for writing the attribute time with the value 011052 and 021009 in step 315. In an exemplary implementation, the writing of attributes may be specific to different applications.

Upon receiving the write attribute command, the second electronic device 105 b acknowledges by transmitting a write attribute response in step 320. The time and date on the second electronic device 105 b is changed to 1:10:52 PM and date 2 Oct., 2009.

In an exemplary implementation, the second electronic device 105 b may reject the write command.

Upon receiving the write attribute response, the first electronic device 105 a may terminate the ultra low power bluetooth profile connection.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating a method for enabling synchronization of attributes among electronic devices over a low energy bluetooth network according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 4, a low energy bluetooth network is scanned for one or more attributes of the second electronic device by the first electronic device at step 410. The attributes may be advertised by the second electronic device. The attributes of the second electronic device is identified by the first electronic device. Examples of the attributes include, but are not limited to, time, day, date, month, year, calendar and the like.

The electronic devices utilize one of an ultra low power bluetooth, a dual mode bluetooth or a combination thereof.

At step 415, a low energy bluetooth connection is established between the first electronic device and the second electronic device. The first electronic device establishes the low energy bluetooth connection based on the identification of the one or more attributes, received from scanning of step 410. The connection can be associated with bluetooth profiles. The profiles define the attributes and protocols supported by each electronic device. A common supported protocol is then utilized by the electronic devices for further communication. For example, a synchronization profile can be defined for an ultra low power bluetooth.

At step 420, the attributes of the second electronic device and one or more attributes of the first electronic device are synchronized.

In an exemplary implementation, the synchronization is performed by writing one or more attribute values of the first electronic device into the second electronic device.

In an exemplary implementation, the synchronization includes reading attributes of the second electronic device. The attributes are received in response to a read attribute command transmitted to the second electronic device by the first electronic device. The received attributes includes the attributes listed in the read attribute command and an attribute value for each attribute in the second electronic device. A user associated with the first electronic device can then choose to synchronize the attributes of the second electronic device with the attributes of the first electronic device by transmitting a write attribute command to the second electronic device. The write attribute command includes the attributes values corresponding to the attributes of the first electronic device.

In an exemplary implementation, the attribute commands are associated with a 16 bit Universal Unique IDentifier (UUID), for example OX0046.

In an alternative implementation, one or more attributes values read from the second electronic device are written into the first electronic device.

In an exemplary implementation, the synchronization can also include comparing the attributes of the first electronic device with the attributes of the second electronic device. If the attributes of the second electronic device differs from the corresponding attributes of the first electronic device, then the attributes of the first electronic device is applied to the second electronic device. If the attributes of the second electronic device is similar to the corresponding attributes of the first electronic device then the electronic devices are considered to be synchronized.

While the invention has been shown and described with reference to certain exemplary embodiments thereof, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes in form and details may be made without departing from the scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims below and their equivalents. 

1. A method for enabling synchronization of attributes among electronic devices over a low energy bluetooth network, the method comprising: scanning, by a first electronic device, a low energy bluetooth network for one or more attributes of a second electronic device; establishing a low energy bluetooth connection between the first electronic device and the second electronic device; and synchronizing the one or more attributes of the second electronic device and one or more attributes of the first electronic device.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the synchronizing of the one or more attributes comprises one of reading the one or more attributes of the second electronic device, and writing the one or more attributes of the first electronic device into the second electronic device.
 3. The method of claim 2, wherein the writing of the one or more attributes comprises writing one or more attribute values into the second electronic device using one or more attribute commands.
 4. The method of claim 1, wherein the synchronizing of the one or more attributes further comprises: reading the one or more attributes of the second electronic device; and writing the one or more attributes of the second electronic device into the first electronic device.
 5. The method of claim 4, wherein the writing of the one or more attributes comprises writing one or more attribute values into the first electronic device using one or more attribute commands.
 6. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more attributes comprise at least one of a time, date, day, year, and calendar.
 7. The method of claim 1, wherein the electronic devices utilizes at least one of an ultra low power bluetooth, a dual mode bluetooth, and a combination thereof.
 8. The method of claim 7 further comprising: defining a synchronization profile for an ultra low power bluetooth.
 9. The method of claim 1, wherein the synchronizing of the one or more attributes comprises transmitting, by the first electronic device, a read attribute command to the second electronic device for reading one or more attributes, and receiving, by the first electronic device, a read attribute response with attributes and attribute values from the second electronic device.
 10. The method of claim 1, wherein the synchronizing of the one or more attributes comprises transmitting, by the first electronic device, a write attribute command to the second electronic device for writing one or more attributes, and receiving, by the first electronic device, a write attribute response with an acknowledgement and a confirmation of writing the one or more attributes from the second electronic device.
 11. A system for enabling synchronization of attributes among electronic devices over a low energy bluetooth network, the system comprising: a first electronic device in electronic communication with a second electronic device over a low energy bluetooth network, the first electronic device comprising; a processor for scanning the low energy bluetooth network for one or more attributes of a second electronic device by a first electronic device, for establishing a low energy bluetooth connection between the first electronic device and the second electronic device, and for synchronizing the one or more attributes of the second electronic device and one or more attributes of the first electronic device; and the second electronic device.
 12. The system of claim 11, wherein the processor synchronizes the one or more attributes by at least one of reading the one or more attributes of the second electronic device, and writing the one or more attributes of the first electronic device into the second electronic device.
 13. The system of claim 11, wherein the processor reads the one or more attributes of the second electronic device, and writes the one or more attributes of the second electronic device into the first electronic device.
 14. The system of claim 13, wherein the processor writes one or more attribute values into the first electronic device using one or more attribute commands.
 15. The system of claim 11, wherein the one or more attributes comprise at least one of a time, date, day, year, and calendar.
 16. The system of claim 11, wherein the electronic devices utilizes at least one of an ultra low power bluetooth, a dual mode bluetooth, and a combination thereof.
 17. The system of claim 11, wherein the processor transmits a read attribute command to the second electronic device for reading one or more attributes, and receives a read attribute response with attributes and attribute values from the second electronic device.
 18. The system of claim 11, wherein the processor transmits a write attribute command to the second electronic device for writing one or more attributes, and receives a write attribute response with an acknowledgement and a confirmation of writing of the one or more attributes from the second electronic device. 